It is common for product containers with pump dispensers, such as trigger pump dispensers, to have the product in the dilution needed for use. The diluent usually is water. The disadvantage of this type of a container and its use is that a large volume of water must be shipped with each product container. This is the case even though the customer has ready access to water at a very low cost. That is, there is ready access to a municipal water supply. The customer could easily supply one component at a low cost.
This problem has been addressed by others. A solution is to use a cartridge which contains a concentrate of the primary ingredient of the product in conjunction with the container. In such a use the customer will fill the container to a given level with a diluent such as water. The cartridge is placed into the neck of the container and upon the placement and attachment of the pump dispenser to the container the cartridge is activated to flow the concentrate down into the diluent. The now sealed container can be shaken to mix the concentrate and diluent. Since pump dispensers have dip tubes which extend to adjacent the bottom of the container the diluted product is dispensed upon actuation of the pump. In this system there is no need to provide a new container with each unit of product. Only a small cartridge needs to be provided. All that needs to be shipped and stored are relatively small cartridges. This results in obvious savings.
The prior art in this area is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,096 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2-69775. Each of these patents discloses a cartridge in an upper part of a bottle where the dip tube of a trigger pump will activate the cartridge by piercing through planar upper portion and in Japanese Application No. 2-69775 through a weakened lower surface. Other cartridge units are disclosed in Italian Patent Application U197A000031; Italian Industrial Model 207355; Italian Patent 1 188 018; PCT WO 98/43895; U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,089; U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,483 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,014969. These latter other cartridge units have a central channel through which the dip tube passes. The dip tube or a part of the central channel will remove a plug at the bottom of the cartridge to release a concentrated liquid into the diluent in the container, usually water. However none of these patents disclose or suggest the structure of the present cartridge. They do not show any way to solve the problem of spillage or back splashing when the dip tube of the pump is pierced through the upper wall of the cartridge. This problem which does not exist for cartridges with a center channel is solved by the present cartridge. The upper wall is of a particular design and preferably both the upper and lower walls have a reduced thickness relative to other parts of the cartridge.